


Original Work (A New Dress)

by Waywocket



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25243303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywocket/pseuds/Waywocket
Summary: A trading caravan makes it to Kingspool early. Angel finds the perfect dress and Tiffany remembers when that was all she wanted.





	Original Work (A New Dress)

Just before sunset, a trading caravan came through the trees. They were three days earlier than expected. Good weather for spring kept them going and they were happily ahead of schedule.

Only Kingspool wasn’t ready for them. They still needed to move the market around to fit more people and the tavern was full of a ship's crew in for a long repair.

Tiffany spent hours talking with sailors about giving up their rooms, gold back, of course. Just enough for the elderly to have a proper bed to sleep in. It had been a long journey from the mountain villages, she couldn’t leave them without.

After that, the animals needed to be fed, but there wasn’t enough feed below. Wheeling enough feed down for the donkeys and horses took up dinner time, and she would swear it nearly cost her arm when a horse got too close. Anyone else would say it was just a curious horse.

In the early hours that weren’t quite morning, she was still pulling at stalls and covering the fire pit to make more room as the market took over the Giving space. 

“Why am I the only one doing this!” Tiffany whined as she leaned against one of the stalls to catch her breath and try to wipe off the sweat. Looking over the enlarged market area, she sighed. “Right, it’s late so I sent everyone else home to sleep, like an idiot!” There was no one to blame but herself, so she pulled herself back up and got back to work. 

The sky was starting to brighten when she was finally done and she cheered. There was a yell from a nearby house, and she quickly covered her mouth. 

“Sorry!” She whisper shouted before laughing to herself. “Finally done. They should be getting up soon.”

With a loud yawn, she started back home. Up the cliffside path, that she swore got steeper when she was climbing, up to the little house with its tilted tin roof. All she wanted was a nap and something to eat before she had to go back down and watch over the market and check on repairs. Surely an hour or two was safe.

Opening the door, she kicked her shoes off in the mudroom before heading into the kitchen. It was a surprise to see Angel already awake, and she’d made breakfast. Two bowls of porridge were on the table.

“Good morning, I didn’t think you’d be up so early.” Yawning, she sat down and stuck the spoon into the bowl. “Thanks.” While she was grateful to come home to a meal, she was also concerned as to why her baby sister was up so early.

“We can go after breakfast, right?”

There it was.

Tiffany watched her sister before taking a bite. “Angie I haven’t slept all night. Can I lay down for a little while?”

“Taffy!” She whined. “Please? I don’t want all the good stuff to be gone when we get there.” Still holding her spoon, she laced her fingers in front of her chest as she begged.

With a sigh, Tiffany put down her spoon and tried to reason with her. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of nice things in an hour or so. They’re still sitting up anyway”

Angel whined and kicked her feet under the table, but there was no debating that. “Fine. But a quick nap!”

Laughing Tiffany finished the last of her breakfast. “Yes, yes. Just an hour or so, okay? Will you clean up?” Ruffling her sister’s blonde hair she made her way to their shared room and fell onto her bed, feet just off the edge.

“Don’t snore too loud!” Yelled Angel from the kitchen as she cleared up and got ready to wash the dishes.

Face pressed against her pillow, she grinned widely. Flipping on her back, she began snoring as loud as she could manage, just to annoy her sister.

“Taffy!” She yelled as dishes clinked in the sink. “I know you’re not asleep yet, knock it off!” When the snoring continued she yelled in frustration and swung the door open. “Stop!” Angel threw her sketchbook at her sister.

Laughing, Tiffany caught the book just before it hit her in the head. “Hey! You know better than to throw your sketchbook!” Just for spite, she curled up on her side and cradled the book to her chest so Angel couldn’t take it back.

Angel huffed and slammed the bedroom door before getting back to cleaning up breakfast and waiting for Tiffany to wake up from her nap. She was at least kind enough to let her sleep a while. Something, she would regret.

Down in the village, Tiffany and Angel squeezed between people as the crowds of people filled the market. It seemed everyone was there.

“I told you!” Angel had to hold onto Tiffany’s sleeve to keep close as they walked deeper in to see the stalls as she whined.

“You did not. You complained they wouldn’t have anything, and look they have everything, even crowds” She looked down at Angel with a cheeky grin.

Angel smacked her sister's arm, and they both laughed. Grabbing Tiffany’s hand tightly they kept walking.

“Come on, it’s nothing new. Let’s see if mister Stine is here. He’s the one with the, the,” she rolled her free hand trying to remember, “that paint that you like last time.”

“The metallic paints?” She asked with a confused look.

“Maybe? I just remember you squealing like a mouse and nearly knocking the jar over,” she teased.

Wrinkling her nose, Angel snubbed her sister. “You just don’t understand art!”

Tiffany spotted the man and smiled. “You’re right. I can’t tell the difference between charcoal and graphite, but I think he does.” She nodded ahead to the man as he was showing a sailor the different brushes.

“Mister Stine!” Angel perked up when she saw him and quickly tugged Tiffany with her in a rush. She nearly knocked her sister off her feet. At the counter, she nearly climbed up it to get his attention. “Mister Stine! You came back!”

While Tiffany pulled her sister off his stall the man laughed, deep laugh lines growing deeper. “Of course! Can’t let artists be without their supplies, now can I?” He leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. “And it looks like one of my favourite ones may be in need of something.”

Beaming up at the man she nodded. “Yes, sir! My brushes have worn down and I need some new ones.”

“Brushes? I think I can help with that.” He pulled out a box that showcased what he had on offer.

While Tiffany kept an eye on her sister she didn’t bother trying to keep up with the conversation. She really was lost when it came to art, the only thing she could draw were blueprints. 

The crowd was calm despite its size, and she was grateful. So far, there had been no fighting or calls for thieves. She might actually get to just relax while Angel looked at the stalls. Almost.

A few caravan children saw them and remembered her from last year. Grinning widely, they pushed through the crowd to lean a bit too close for comfort. “You’re the illusionist, right? You told stories last year! Do you know any more?”

With a wide grin, she held her hands out in front of her. “I very well might be,” she giggled. Miniature versions of the children appeared on her outstretched hands. “And I know a lot of stories.” She grinned when they gasped in awe. She wasn’t something one saw every day.

“Are you gonna tell more stories this time too? Please?” They held onto each other and begged, hopefully.

Another late night, but it would be rude to turn them down. "Later tonight, after all this market business is dealt with. I’m sure I can pick a few stories for everyone. So long as you don’t cause any trouble. If I have to spend extra time cleaning this up, I won’t have time.”

They cheered and nodded, promising to be good. Running off into the crowd, it wasn’t long until Tiffany lost sight of them.

Turning back to check on her sister there was a hand nearly in her face. “Ah, must have found everything she wanted.” Digging into her bag she pulled out her coin purse and paid the merchant for a fair bit of paint and brushes. 

He was expensive, but Angel liked him and, she did make a bit of money from her work. It was a fair investment, even if she was the only one that seemed to pay for her supplies. “Come on. That was more gold than we agreed on, we’re done.”

Angel pouted. “Aw! Taffy, can’t we just look? They have a lot of neat things. I might get an idea for something to paint.” Holding her brushes and paints to her chest, she looked up pleadingly at her sister.

“Seriously?” When Angel just kept that look on her face Tiffany sighed and deflated. “You are such a pain, you know that? I still have work to check in on today. We can stay a little longer, but we’re not spending all day here. Okay?”

“Yes!” Cheered Angel as she grabbed her sister’s hand and hurried back into the crowd. Despite her sister’s warning that she didn’t want to be there long, she took her time looking into all the stalls. She was happy to browse until she found a small dressmaker’s stall.

“Taffy,” she whispered while she looked at one of the dresses set out on display. It was a dark blue dress with white accents and a ruffled skirt and sleeves. A black bow hung around the neck. She was quickly enamoured with it and tugged Tiffany’s sleeve. “Oh, it’s perfect! Please, Tiffy? I need a new dress anyway. Please?”

Looking the dress over, Tiffany frowned, just slightly. It was a beautiful dress. “It’s a really nice dress, Angel. I don’t know if I can afford it. Besides, it’s too nice to play in, don’t you think?”

Angel stomped her foot and went over to get a closer look at the dress. Up close, she saw that they hadn’t lifted the dress to show the petticoat, but it was stitched over with white beneath. Behind her, Tiffany groaned at the price tag. It was more than a little expensive, not that they should have expected less.

“I’d be careful! And I promise I won’t paint in it! Please, Taffy? It’s wonderful!”

Watching Angel fall more in love with the dress, Tiffany sighed. It was expensive, but she loved it. Looking it over, she thought back to when she was younger than Angel. She wasn’t even allowed to have something so nice.

Back then, the markets were much smaller, less crowded while she walked with her grandfather. Just like Angel, she had found a beautiful dress. It was much more plain, a light blue dress with a pleated skirt.

“Grandpa, please? I’ve been really good!” Bright green eyes looked hopeful up at him.

“I’m sorry, little love. You know we don’t have much spare gold. Besides, a dress wouldn’t do for all the work we do.” He smiled apologetically and ran a hand over blonde hair.

She didn’t scream, whine, or beg anymore, but tears ran down her cheeks. Tiffany scrubbed her face with the sleeve of a too-big shirt stained with oil. 

There wasn’t money for new clothes, she knew that. She had to make do with old clothes from the village boys or from old work clothes that had been cut down to try and fit her. There wasn’t a lot of money and what little money her grandfather made mostly went back into the village to keep it running. There was nothing for it, and she knew that. But other girls got to wear pretty dresses. Some even had fancy ones for Givings. All she wanted was one pretty dress to wear.

Tiffany looked down at her father’s old pants that didn’t quite reach her ankles and another oil-stained shirt that was loose in some places and tight in others. Now that grandpa was gone, she looked after things, and her wages went into running the village. There wasn’t money for a new dress.

Still, she watched how Angel longingly gazed at that dress. She was almost as enamoured as when she got new paint. Looking into her coin purse, she counted what was left. They were nearly done with a boat in the docks. She would have to skip lunches until then to make ends meet, but Angel didn’t need to know. Taking out the last of her gold, she waved down the merchant.

“Alright, alright. Make sure we can get it to fit you, and we can get it.”


End file.
